Sidecar racer Gary Horspole battles to Cadwell Park top-10

Gary Horspole (left) and Jimmy Connell put on a show at the Lincolnshire circuit EMN-190822-133131002

Published:13:36Thursday 22 August 2019

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Gary Horspole and Jimmy Connell moved up the British Sidecar Championship standings after a good weekend at Cadwell Park.

The Sleaford racer and his Scottish passenger recorded eighth and 11th-place finishes in round seven at the Lincolnshire Wolds circuit to move up the rider standings to 15th on 56 points.

Qualifying was postponed to Saturday morning after heavy rain flooded the track and curtailed racing for the rest of Friday.

Horspole and Connell completed the session in damp conditions down in 15th place and started the first of two races from a ninth row grid position.

They didn’t get the best of starts and found themselves down in 18th on the opening lap, but Horspole soon settled into his race pace and began to pick off the opposition.

On lap three the pair passed Gilbert/Pilmoor-Brady and one lap later they dispatched Peach/Edwards to settle into 16th.

But they needed some points so Horspole pushed on to get up into a point-scoring position.

On lap six they did just that, passing both Cable/Masters and Nicholls/Cole, and when Holland /Watson retired they found themselves up in a creditable 13th place.

Not content with that, Horspole battled with Bell/Anderson and was right in their tyre tracks through laps eight and nine, but couldn’t get a clean pass in. Finally he powered past on lap nine to take up 11th, and with other riders falling by the wayside with problems, Horspole /Connell were running in ninth place on the penultimate lap.

They made one last effort to pass Founds/Lowther on the final lap to cross the finish line in a fine eighth place for eight championship points.

Starting race two on Sunday from the sixth row, Horspole/Connell dropped to 11th place on the first lap, but regrouped to take 10th mid-race.

Cable/Masters were beginning to reel them in and on lap eight of 10, they made their pass stick, leaving Horspole/Connell to bring their outfit home in 11 and pick up five championship points.

The series takes a break and the riders regroup at Assen, in the Netherlands, over the weekend of September 20 to 22.